The Role

This is Substack's first dedicated paid acquisition hire. You'll own the strategy and execution of paid media across all channels - with an immediate focus on driving net-new, app-first user acquisition at efficient cost. You'll report to the Head of Growth and operate as a key member of the growth team at a pivotal moment: we have strong organic momentum, a proven gifting and referral flywheel within the existing user base, and now we're ready to scale growth beyond it.

This is a high-ownership role. You'll manage budget, own channel strategy, run creative testing, instrument measurement infrastructure, and work cross-functionally with product, data, and creator partnerships to make it all work. You'll define what paid acquisition looks like at Substack including the frameworks, the channels, the metrics, and eventually the team.

What You'll Do

• Own paid acquisition end-to-end: strategy, execution, optimization, and reporting across Meta, Google UAC, YouTube, TikTok, podcast, and emerging channels
• Design and run rigorous experiments to find efficient CAC on net-new users - people who have never been on Substack before
• Build and manage our MMP infrastructure including deferred deep linking, in-app event tracking, and ad platform integrations
• Partner with creator partnerships to develop first-party ad creative featuring Substack writers, and establish the playbook for creator-led paid campaigns
• Build and maintain lookalike audience pipelines, working with our data team to turn high-quality install cohorts into scalable targeting seeds
• Define the right optimization signals at each stage of maturity, from install volume in the learning phase to subscription starts at scale, and work with product and engineering to ensure those events are correctly instrumented and passed to ad platforms
• Develop a clear framework for CPI targets and payback windows grounded in install-cohort LTV data, and evolve it as we learn
• Collaborate with product on the new user onboarding experience, particularly the deferred deep link personalization flow that connects ad creative to first app experience
• Own budget pacing and efficiency reporting, and communicate performance clearly to leadership
• Eventually hire and develop a small team as the function grows

What We're Looking For

• 5-8 years of experience in performance marketing or paid user acquisition, with meaningful time spent at a consumer subscription app or subscription media product
• Deep channel expertise across Meta and at least one other major channel (Google UAC, YouTube, TikTok); experience with podcast and influencer-driven acquisition is a plus
• Hands-on experience with an MMP (AppsFlyer strongly preferred) including attribution setup, deferred deep linking, event schema design, and fraud prevention
• Strong analytical foundation - you're comfortable in SQL, know your way around a data warehouse, and can build your own cohort analyses rather than waiting for a data team to do it for you
• Experience building lookalike audience pipelines and thinking rigorously about seed quality, audience overlap, and creative-audience fit
• Sharp instincts for creative - you don't need to design ads yourself, but you know what makes a good hook, can brief creative teams and creators effectively, and have a framework for testing and iterating on ad concepts
• Fluency with LTV modeling and payback window thinking; you understand why CPI is the wrong primary metric and can articulate what the right one is in a given context
• High agency and low ego. This role requires building something from scratch, which means doing unglamorous instrumentation work alongside high-leverage strategy. You're comfortable with both
• Genuine curiosity about media, writing, and the creator economy. You should care about what Substack is building, not just the acquisition funnel
• Based in San Francisco or New York

Why This Role, Why Now

Paid acquisition at Substack is genuinely greenfield. We have strong data infrastructure, a product with real retention and monetization, a growing app with millions of daily active users, and an expanding network of some of the world's most influential creators. The challenge (and the opportunity) is extending that to cold audiences at scale.

You'll have the budget, the data access, the cross-functional support, and the mandate to figure it out. If you've been looking for a role where you can genuinely own a growth channel and build something that matters, this is it.

Compensation

Substack's compensation package includes a market-competitive salary, equity for all full-time roles, and exceptional benefits. Our cash compensation range for this role is $170,000-$210,000. Final offer amounts are determined by multiple factors including candidate experience and expertise.